


Drive It Like You Stole It

by justyrae



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Arguing, Blow Jobs, Boys Kissing, Coming In Pants, Embarrassment, Enemies to Lovers, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Kink Negotiation, M/M, Multiple Orgasms, Shame, Small Penis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:19:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9127474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: He doesn't know, a tiny voice in Louis' mind reminds him.You can't blame him for not knowing when you never told him.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunsetmog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmog/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSETMOG!!!!!! i know you're poorly but i hope you have the loveliest of birthdays and spend it doing exactly what you want to do, including reading about dumb boys who make some poor choices but find each other anyway <3
> 
> big thanks to my beta J for being brutally honest with me when i needed it most. love you.

The thing is, no matter what anyone says, Louis isn't doing this for anyone but himself. He came up with the idea, went and bought the hair dye all on his own, and now he's going to dye his hair red all by himself. Niall and Liam can fuck right off with their laughter and weird looks because Louis knows this is going to be incredible and then they'll have to eat their words.

Also, Liam is definitely going to have to bleach his towels. Oops.

"C'mon, now, unlock the door!"

"No!" Louis shouts back. Then, after a pause, "why should I?"

"Because you're going to make my bathroom look like a murder scene, I know you will!" Liam says in a flat voice through the wooden door.

Louis tries not to grin to himself as he glances around, taking in the state of the bathroom. Alright, so there are a few streaks of red dye here and there and _yes_ there's also a nice red handprint on the edge of the sink but that wasn't entirely Louis' fault. If Niall hadn't banged on the door and startled him then he wouldn't have had to grab the sink to keep from falling over so _really_ Liam should be yelling at Niall, not Louis.

"That's a grand idea, cheers Li!" Louis calls back, full-on grinning gleefully when he hears Liam groan loudly.

The problem is that Louis can't quite tell if he's gotten all of his hair on the back of his head, which leads to him rummaging around in the cabinet under the sink (with his dyeing gloves still on, obviously) for a second mirror.

"Liam!" he yells. When there's no response, he yells again _louder_.

"What?!"

"Haven't you got a second mirror? I can't see the back of my head!"

Louis hears some grumbling that sounds suspiciously like " _I'll show you the back of your head_ " and he can't help but snicker when Liam tries the door handle again.

"Seriously? You ask for help and then don't even unlock the door?"

"Don't need you to _come in_ ," Louis says with a huff, "just tell me if you've got another mirror and where it is!"

"I do but I don't know where it is so open the bloody door!"

Louis huffs again, turning it into a dramatic groan as he flips the lock and wrenches the door back, half expecting Liam to topple over the threshold. In fact, he's rather disappointed when it doesn't happen.

"Well?" he asks, remembering his gloves at the last second before he nearly puts his hands on his hips. Liam's bathroom tiles are one thing, he can't get red dye on his shirt!

"Why couldn't you have done this in your own bathroom?" Liam asks with an annoyed groan. "This will take ages to clean."

"Focus, Liam! Mirror!"

"Oh, shut up and turn around." Liam dutifully inspects the back of Louis' head, hemming and hawing until he taps Louis' shoulder.

"Well?" Louis says again.

"Looks alright to me. How long have you got to keep it on for?"

"Twenty minutes, I think." Louis looks down at the floor where the box fell after he'd torn it open. "Might've been too rough with the box, in hindsight."

"You think?" Liam rolls his eyes as he bends down and retrieves the box from the floor, unfortunately not being quick enough to dodge Louis' hand when he goes for the back of Liam's head.

"Red's a good colour for you," Louis says in the most casual tone he can muster while trying not to smirk.

"Why did you do that?!" Liam demands.

"Marked you, didn't I? So now everyone will know you're my boy."

"I hate you," Liam grumbles.

"You love me."

"Absolutely not." Liam turns on his heel and stomps out of the bathroom, calling over his shoulder, "clean up the dye, I mean it!"

Louis rolls his eyes and waves Liam off, kicking the door shut behind him as he turns to face his reflection in the mirror. He grins widely as he looks at his hair, he can't wait to see what it looks like once it's all finished.

"Eat your heart out, Grimmy," he mutters to himself.

*

Nick lets out the softest of sighs and not even one second goes by before Harry's eyes find his in the mirror and he sees a frown on Harry's face.

"What?" he demands. "I didn't say anything!"

"You sighed." Nick rolls his eyes. "You said you wanted to do this!"

"Well, yes, but I didn't necessarily mean today." Nick winces as a wet strand of hair falls against his forehead. Harry quickly scoops it up and presses it against his head, but a light streak of red dye remains.

"Why not today?" Harry replies as he continues combing his fingers through Nick's hair, making sure to saturate every part of it with the red dye.

"All I said was I _might_ want to it and now here I am, ow!" Nick winces as Harry's fingers catch in a tangle, "getting my hair yanked by you, Styles."

"Thought you liked a bit of hair pulling," Harry murmurs with a smirk.

"Shut up," Nick says as he tries to swat Harry, though it's decidedly difficult when he can't really turn around for fear of getting dye all over himself.

"It's going to look brilliant," Harry says. He's moved on from running his fingers through Nick's hair and is now attempting to style it up in a mohawk, although every time he lets it go for more than a second it tends to flop to one side.

"Maybe we should dye yours as well."

"Nah." Harry finds Nick's eyes in the mirror again as he says, "wouldn't want to steal your thunder."

"Steal my--" Nick laughs. "You're a weird one, Harry Styles."

Harry beams at him as he smoothes Nick's hair down before he starts pulling his gloves off. He tosses them in the bin and then pulls out his phone and sets a timer, showing the screen to Nick just as a text shows up.

"Who's James?" Nick says, trying to catch a glimpse of the body of the text before Harry pulls his phone away.

"Just a friend," Harry says as he holds his phone close to his chest while he writes his reply. Nick narrows his eyes at him; he knows Harry's lying about something, given the way he's smiling, he just doesn't know _why_ Harry's lying.

"Harry," he starts, but before he can say anything else Harry pats his shoulder and heads for the door of the bathroom.

"Stay here, I'll let you know when it's time to rinse!"

"Harry!"

"Stay there, Nick!" he calls over his shoulder as he shuts the door behind him.

Nick huffs loudly and grumbles to himself about being left all alone with nothing to do for a full twenty minutes. It's his own damn flat, he should be able to do what he likes, dyed hair or not. Still, he stays seated on the stool that Harry brought in from his kitchen. He props his foot up and rests his elbow against his knee so he can lean his chin against the palm of his hand, content for the time being to act a bit petulant about his situation.

He catches his own eye in the mirror and chuckles to himself.

"This'll show that Tommo," he mutters.

*

"We have arrived!" Louis bellows the moment his feet touch the ground at Glastonbury. He raises his arms in the air and whoops loudly, drawing the attention of quite a few people scattered around the campsite and he grins.

"Shut up, Tommo," Niall says with a laugh as he steps through the door of Liam's camper van with a beer in his hand. "You're an idiot."

"You shut up," he replies as he snatches the beer from Niall and takes a swig. Niall isn't even phased by it, he simply produces another can from his pocket as though he'd expected Louis to steal the first. "Where's Payno?"

"He's coming, leave him be."

"Never," Louis says before he sticks his head back through the door. "Payno, let's go!"

"I'm coming!" Liam yells back. "Jesus, Lou, give me a sec."

"Time's a-wastin'! Lots to do, people to see, people to _snog_ ," Louis goes on and on until Liam finally meets him at the door and pushes him through.

"Just as long as you don't end up snogging the wrong person," Liam says as he pulls the door shut behind him.

"Ooh, remember last year?" Niall says, already starting to laugh. "Thought that bloke was gonna murder you."

"I still maintain that it wasn't my fault," Louis says airily as he takes another long swig from his can. Both Liam and Niall give him a look that says _yeah fucking right_. "What? It's not like I knew he had a big, hulking boyfriend. Shouldn't have snogged me in the first place."

"Yeah, alright." Niall rolls his eyes. "Try and keep yourself out of trouble this time, yeah?"

"Scout's honor," Louis replies as he salutes Niall.

"You were never in Scouts," Liam protests.

"Shut up, Liam."

Without looking to see if the other two follow, Louis leads the way into the festival with a spring in his step and a smirk on his face. Niall catches up easily and Louis slings his arm around Niall's shoulders as they start talking about who they're excited to see, getting louder and ending up talking over each other more than not.

Probably half an hour goes by before Louis realizes that Liam's hardly participating in the conversation at all and he glances over his shoulder to make sure he's still following them. Liam's there, which relieves Louis a little bit, but he's distracted. He's looking down at his phone as he walks and even with his head tilted Louis can see the smile on his face.

Louis stops in his tracks, which in turn makes Niall stop as well, but poor Liam doesn't realize they've stopped until he runs right into them.

"Sorry! Must've been--"

"Who're you texting?" Louis asks.

"Nobody," Liam replies as his hands drop to his sides, almost as though he's trying to hide his phone. Louis narrows his eyes and watches as Liam shares a nervous look with Niall.

 _That won't do_ , Louis thinks to himself.

"I'll take that!" Louis says as he quickly grabs Liam's wrist to get at his phone. Liam doesn't give it up easily, in fact Louis has to resort to pinching Liam several times before he's distracted enough to loosen his grip and Louis is able to snatch his phone away.

"Louis!" Liam yells. "Give it back!"

"Nah, don't think I will," he says as he steps back and twirls it around in his hand. "You see, I think you're spending too much time on your phone, which is a real problem with the youths these days."

"Louis," Liam says, clearly not impressed. Niall, on the other hand, is already trying not to laugh.

"And I think you need to be taught a lesson," Louis goes on. "From now on, you've lost your phone privileges."

"You can't be serious."

"Deadly serious, Liam. You've got a problem, consider this an intervention." Louis smirks before he sticks Liam's phone down the front of his jeans.

"Louis!" Liam shouts, and that does it for Niall. He hits the ground in uproarious laughter while Louis just keeps on smirking.

The look on Liam's face is priceless; he's clearly torn between trying to get his phone back himself or just waiting until Louis gives up and hands it over. The problem is that Liam's phone is set to vibrate and it keeps going off inside Louis' pants, which makes for a very strange sensation against Louis' dick.

"Christ," he grumbles as he fishes the phone out, careful to keep it away from Liam. "Mister Popularity," he mocks as he unlocks Liam's phone and starts reading the texts he received.

"Louis, don't," Liam pleads, but it's too late.

"Who's Edward?" Louis says with a laugh. "Niall, look at all these texts! Seems our Liam's got himself a boyfriend that he hasn't told us about."

"Is that right?" Niall says. If he wasn't distracted by the fact that his best mate has a boyfriend he knew nothing about, Louis might've picked up on the hesitancy in Niall's voice.

"Is he here, Liam? Is this Edward at Glasto as well?" Louis laughs as he goes to Edward's phone number in Liam's contacts and presses call. "Let's see!"

"No! Louis!" Liam tries to get the phone away from him but Louis is too quick to dash out of Liam's reach.

"Edward? Edward!" Louis yells when the line connects. "Hello? Is this Edward??"

Any response is lost to Louis' ears over Liam's shouts to give him back his phone.

"Liam can't come to the phone right now, Edward, but perhaps you'd like to share the story of how you two met so I can properly take the piss out of my best friend for not telling me he had a boyfriend!"

"Lou, I think you should give Liam back his phone," Niall says, but it still doesn't deter Louis in the slightest.

"C'mon now, Edward, don't be shy. I've seen the texts you've sent to our Liam and well, you're definitely not shy, are you?"

"Louis? Why d'you have Liam's phone?"

Louis freezes in place the moment he recognizes the voice on the other end of the line. He slowly looks up until he meets Liam's eyes and he lets the phone drop from his hand, not moving a muscle when Liam rushes to catch it before it hits the ground.

"Louis, I can explain--"

"Who's Edward, Liam?" Louis asks in a sharp voice. "Who's Edward?"

"It's not what you think, Lou. Harry's--"

"What d'you mean, it's not what I think?" Louis snaps. "It's _Harry_. What the fuck else am I supposed to think?"

"You don't even know him," Liam tries. "You've never tried to get to know him, you just hate him because he's Nick's--"

"Don't!" Louis shouts. "Did… did he put you up to this?" Louis' breathing hard now, his heart's pounding and he feels like he may explode at any moment.

"Oh, Lou," Niall says softly as he shakes his head.

"Did who… oh, for fuck's sake, Louis." Liam groans angrily. "Not everything is a fucking plot against you!"

"Did he or not?!"

"No!" Liam shouts. "Nick fucking Grimshaw did not put me up to falling in love with Harry!"

"You can't be serious," Louis says, his voice low.

"Aww, you're in love? Congrats, mate!" Niall claps Liam on his shoulder and Louis glares daggers at him.

"Don't fucking encourage him!" he spits.

"I was just--"

"Thank you, Niall," Liam says in a calm tone before he rounds on Louis. "You see, Louis? That's how a best mate _should_ react to this sort of news. But no, everything's about you and your weird hate obsession with Nick Grimshaw."

"I am not obsessed with--"

"Yes, you are!" Liam shouts. "I've put up with it for ages but it stops now! Harry is lovely and Nick is great, which you would know if you bothered to get to know him!"

Louis stays silent, he's too busy seething with anger to be able to reply.

 _He doesn't know_ , a tiny voice in Louis' mind reminds him. _You can't blame him for not knowing when you never told him_. Louis' anger quickly squashes the voice; he's too worked up to forgive Liam on the spot and this isn't the time nor the place to tell him anything.

The time would've been over a year ago after it happened, but then Louis would've had to reveal his biggest secret.

What Liam doesn't know is that Louis fancied Nick, once upon a time. The first time Louis ever saw Nick was at a show and he was struck with a wave of lust he hadn't ever felt before. He'd never taken one look at someone and wanted so badly to have them touch him. Louis never wanted anyone to touch him, he was too embarrassed of himself.

Louis was embarrassed of what he hid beneath his trousers.

But _god_ , he wanted Nick. He wanted Nick so much he didn't care.

He managed to get Nick alone, far away from the crowd and his other friends. Kissing Nick was everything Louis had hoped it'd be, but he wanted more. Nick's hands were all over him, touching him everywhere and making Louis crazy. He felt Nick's cock pressed against his hip, hard and big and everything Louis wanted.

But when Nick pressed his hand against Louis, even though Louis was harder than he'd ever been before in his life, it was nothing in comparison. Where Nick's cock was bulging against the zip of his jeans, Louis' was hardly even noticeable.

Louis told himself it didn't matter, he just wanted Nick's hands on him. He wanted everything.

But what he got was laughter. Nick started laughing and couldn't stop.

Louis had never been so humiliated in his life. He pulled away from Nick and ran out of the show, not once looking back. He never wanted to see Nick again.

He never told anyone. How could he? It wouldn't make any sense without all the facts and he just _couldn't_ say it aloud. He didn't want anyone to know how small he really was.

He can't say it now, he can hardly even say it to himself. All he can do is keep his mouth shut and hate Nick. He'll hate Nick for as long as he likes, because it's better than admitting the truth.

"Okay," Niall says with a nervous laugh when neither Liam nor Louis say anything after a long pause, "maybe we should all just take a minute and calm down, and then--"

"You're right." Louis plasters a fake smile on his face as he turns to Niall. "I think I will take a minute. Somewhere else."

"You can't be serious," Liam mutters as Louis turns his back on the two of them and starts to walk away. "Louis!"

"You lied to me, Liam!" Louis shouts as he spins around. "You _lied_ to me. Sorry if it's going to take more than a few seconds for me to get over my best mate lying to me. Why don't you just go find your precious Harry and leave me the fuck alone?"

He takes off without letting Liam get a word in and disappears into the crowd.

*

"What's wrong with your face?" Nick asks as Harry comes back towards him, staring down at his phone with a frown.

"Nothing, I…" Harry shakes his head. "That was… weird, what just happened."

"Why? What was it?"

"I, um," Harry pauses, "got a call from someone… but it wasn't who I thought it was?"

"Right." Nick clears his throat. "Does sound weird."

"Yeah," Harry says softly. Nick rolls his eyes.

"If I'm going to help then I sort of need more information, Harry. What's with all the cloak and daggers anyway?"

"Sorry, what?" Harry looks up. "What about daggers?"

"Nevermind," Nick says with an exaggerated groan. "Went right over your head, it did."

Even though Harry's not staring at his phone anymore he still looks so forlorn that Nick pulls him into a hug to try and lift his spirits. When that doesn't work, he tickles him.

"Stop it!" Harry laughs.

"Alright, alright." Nick grins. "Which stage are we going to, anyway?"

"The Park Stage," Harry replies. "You wanted to see Night Beats, right?"

"Right, yes," Nick says with a laugh, "this is why I keep you around."

"Yeah, I get it now." Harry shakes his head. "Personal stylist slash assistant, yeah?" He reaches up and jabs his finger into Nick's red hair, all gelled up in a quiff.

"Oi, hands off. I won't have you ruining all the work I put into this quiff, alright?"

Harry doesn't respond, he just laughs and tugs on Nick's arm to lead him off towards the stage. Nick keeps up a running commentary of everyone they pass so as to keep the sad look off of Harry's face. Just because he doesn't know why Harry's upset doesn't mean he's not going to do his damnedest to cheer him up.

"Oh, look! Someone's gone and copied me," Nick says with a bright laugh as he spots someone in the crowd with bright red hair.

"Yes, because you're the first person to ever dye your hair red," Harry says without even bothering to look at the copycat.

"I pull it off far better than anyone else, though, don't I?" Nick asks as he nudges Harry's arm.

"Of course you do," Harry answers dutifully.

"Piss off." Harry grins and Nick laughs before his eyes wander back to the bloke with red hair.

He's turned away from them, but given the way his shoulders are hunched and he seems to be kicking the dirt under his feet, Nick can't help but feel like he's a bit angry. As he wonders what could've possibly happened in the first few hours of Glastonbury to make anyone angry, Nick finds himself checking the guy out and admiring the quite impressive bum he's got.

Nick's silently willing him to turn around so he can determine if his face is as nice as his bum, but his heart skips a beat when the bloke finally does turn around and Nick realizes that he knows him.

"Oh, bloody hell!" he hisses as he suddenly turns his head towards Harry.

"What?"

"Nothing," Nick says quickly.

"What?" Harry repeats. "What'd you do?"

" _Nothing_! I was just…" Nick groans. "Apparently, I was just ogling Louis Tomlinson and he probably bloody saw me so just _shut up_!"

"Louis Tomlinson?" Harry repeats incredulously. "But you hate him."

"I'm well aware, thank you." Nick huffs. "It's not like I meant to, y'know."

"Umm, Nick?" Harry taps his shoulder and points. As Nick turns his head he sees Louis heading their way. "Think he might've seen you?"

"Shit," Nick mumbles.

He clears his throat and plasters a smile to his face, keeping his eyes on Louis as he makes his way over. He's had his fair share of run-ins with Louis in the past, so he's not too worried about whatever insults Louis is probably going to hurl at him today. He can deal with it.

What he most certainly does not expect is for Louis not to say anything at all, but to rear his arm back and punch Nick squarely in the face with all the force he can muster. It really fucking hurts.

"What the fuck?!" Nick shouts as he clutches his nose, doubling over from the amount of pain that's just exploded across his face.

He looks at Louis for an explanation but all he sees is a mutinous glare on his face as he looks back and forth between Nick and Harry. In the end he doesn't say a word but instead he just stomps away, leaving Nick bewildered and in extreme pain.

"D'you know what that was about?" Nick asks as he tips his head back, wincing as he tries pinching his nose to stop the bleeding.

"I might," Harry says quietly. "No, stop that, tilt your head forward."

"What? Why?"

"Because it's bad if you tilt your head back," Harry says with a sigh. "C'mon, let's get you to the medical tent."

Nick groans as Harry starts leading him back the way they came, and he huffs when Harry pulls out his phone.

"If this turns out to be your fault, I'm punching you in the face. See how you like it."

"Think there's been enough damage caused already," Harry murmurs.

*

It took several hours for Liam and Niall to find Louis again, and not for lack of trying. Louis honestly wasn't sure if they'd come looking for him at all after what had happened and was starting to wonder if he'd have to figure out somewhere else to sleep for the next few days. And with those thoughts followed the question of how he'd get back to London if driving back with them wasn't an option, and that whole line of thinking sent Louis down a bit of a spiral.

Needless to say, he wasn't handling it well on himself. By the time Niall and Liam actually find him, he's three sheets to the wind and covered in mud.

"Jesus Christ, Tommo," Niall mutters as he tries to hook his arms under Louis' armpits to pull him up to his feet.

"G'way," he mumbles, "m'fine."

"You're not fine," Liam says. Louis tips his head back to try and look up at him but with the lack of light and his vision blurred from all the alcohol he's had to drink, he can't see much of anything.

"You're not fine," he mocks as Niall finally lifts him up. He lasts on his own two feet all of five seconds before he falls headfirst into Liam.

"When's the last time you had anything to eat?" Liam asks as he tries to wipe the mud from Louis' face.

"What d'you care?" Louis groans as he tries to push Liam's hand away. "You're not my mum."

"I'm your best mate, you dickhead." Liam sighs. "I shouldn't want to help you, not after the way you treated me today."

It's been long enough that Louis has replayed the earlier events so many times in his head that he feels extraordinarily guilty for everything he said. He knows Liam didn't fall for Harry in some weird plot against him, that's an insane thought to even _have_. Louis knows enough about himself to know that he's not the most emotionally available person, but nobody else needs to know that and he's certainly not going to broadcast it to the world.

"Sorry," he inevitably ends up mumbling. It's half-hearted at best, but it seems to appease Liam for the time being.

"C'mon, let's get him a kebab or something," Niall offers as he steps up to Louis's side, letting him lean on him when standing gets to be a bit tough.

"Yeah, some food will do him good." Liam pats his shoulder and Louis lets out a sigh.

"Thanks, lads."

"And _then_ you can explain why you decided to try and break Nick Grimshaw's nose."

"Shit," Louis groans. "How'd you…" Louis looks up and all it takes is one glance at Liam's face to know exactly how he found out: Harry.

"Wish I'd been there to see it," Niall murmurs.

"Niall!"

"What?" Louis snickers as Niall defends himself. "Tommo's scrappy, sure, but I didn't think he'd actually go and try to knock him out!"

"Don't encourage him," Liam tuts as he steps against Louis' other side as they both help him stumble over to the nearest tent with food.

"He deserved it," Louis decides to say, albeit so far after the conversation has ended that neither Liam nor Niall have any idea what he's talking about.

"Come again?" Niall says, his mouth half full. Even Liam puts down his sandwich as he turns to face Louis.

"Grimmy. Deserved the punch."

"Why?" Liam asks. "Did he say something? Do something?"

"Red," Louis mutters. "His hair was red!"

There's a pause and then Niall bursts out in hilarious laughter. Louis can't keep himself from starting to laugh along with him, even though some small voice in the back of his mind is telling him _Niall's laughing at you, not with you, love_. He doesn't like that voice.

"You… You punched Nick because he dyed his hair red too?" Niall asks in-between his hysterical laughs.

"It's not funny, Niall," Liam tries to insist, "he could've broken Nick's nose!"

"I didn't?" Louis hums thoughtfully as he takes another bite of his sandwich. "Pity."

"Louis!" Liam shouts.

"What?!" Louis shouts back. It's now been long enough since his last drink and he's eaten most of his sandwich that he's starting to sober up enough that he's quickly losing interest in this conversation.

Liam just stares at him with the sort of big doe eyes that usually end up making Louis feel guilty no matter how he felt prior. He knows he should properly apologize for everything he said earlier, he knows one simple sorry doesn't make up for it. But he'll be damned if he has to apologize to Nick Grimshaw on top of all of this. Louis lets out a resigned sigh and resists the urge to put his head down on the table.

"I'm sorry," he says, waiting for Liam to look at him before he continues, "I shouldn't have gotten so angry about you and Harry. It's not my place and if Harry is as great as you say he is, then I'm happy for you. It just hurt that you lied to me."

"I didn't want to lie," Liam replies. "I just knew how you felt about literally anyone or anything having to do with Nick and so I thought it'd be best if I just… didn't tell you for a while."

Louis winces. "Sorry," he repeats.

"It's okay, Lou." Liam puts his hand on Louis' shoulder and squeezes it. "I'm glad it's out in the open now, even if it happened in a shit way."

"Me too," Louis says. He waits a moment before clearing his throat and then adds, "just so we're clear, me being okay with you and Harry has absolutely nothing to do with Nick Grimshaw. He's still a twat."

Niall bursts out laughing at the same time Liam rolls his eyes, but Louis stands his ground with his statement. Just because he may have to deal with Nick on a semi-regular basis outside of attending the same gigs doesn't mean he has to be nice to him.

"Oh, that's too good!" Niall says as he continues to laugh.

"What?" Louis demands. "He is a twat!"

"Sure, mate, whatever you say." Niall keeps giggling and Louis turns to Liam.

"Liam, I think Niall's lost his fucking mind."

"I dunno if he's the only one," Liam mutters. Louis is two seconds away from a very loud protest when Niall cuts in.

"Lou, you punched NIck because he dyed his hair red, same as you. Do you not see how mad that is?"

"You're missing the point, Niall!"

"Oh? And what's the point?"

"The point is that I-- that he--" Louis struggles to find the words to explain just why he punched Nick because the thing is, he can't say why without revealing his secret.

"Exactly my point." Niall shakes his head. "The both of you are worse than a couple of kids in the schoolyard, pushing each other over and shit."

"You've completely lost the plot, haven't you?" Louis scoffs. "The only thing I feel when I think of Nick Grimshaw is disgust. Or hatred. Or pity!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Tommo."

"I'm disowning Niall," Louis declares, turning away from Niall and pushing his shoulder as though he's trying to actively shove Niall off of the bench. "Should ship him back to Ireland, make him pay for his sins or something."

"He's not wrong, you know." Liam shrugs when Louis stares at him like he's just insulted his mum or something. "You do have a strange fixation with Nick."

"I thought it was a _hate obsession_ ," Louis mumbles angrily.

"It's something, alright. Can you honestly tell me you didn't dye your hair to try and impress him?"

"What?!" Louis squawks. "That is completely-- how dare you say--" Liam grins at him. "Fuck you, Liam."

"You owe me five pounds, Li."

"Reckon I do, Niall."

"I'm disowning both of you!" Louis shouts. "You're both terrible people and I don't have to deal with this!"

"Oh, sit down!" Niall says when Louis stands up and tries to leave. Both Liam and Niall each grab his shoulders and pull him back down into his seat, where Louis sits with crossed arms while he glares angrily back and forth at the two of them.

"Listen, whether or not you like Nick, you need to apologize for punching him in the face."

"What? Why?!" Louis looks even more mutinous than before but he doesn't try to get away.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"When have I ever done something just because it's the right thing to do?"

"Toldja he'd love that idea," Niall mutters. "Now tell him Nick's holed up in the camper van with Harry."

"He's what?!"

"Cheers, Niall," Liam says with a groan.

Niall shrugs. "Harsh but fair."

*

"No, I told you, stop tilting your head back!"

"Fuck, alright, alright!" Nick groans as he tips his head forward and pulls the tissues away from his nose to check if it's still bleeding. It was still bleeding fairly steadily after they left the medical tent even though they swore it wasn't broken. As far as Nick's concerned it might as well be broken for how much it still fucking hurts.

"Did the pain pills kick in yet?" Harry asks carefully.

"No," Nick answers. He tries wiggling his nose the smallest bit and he gets shooting pain for his troubles. He winces and groans again while he dabs at his nose a few more times.

"At least the bleeding's stopped!" Nick gives Harry a long-suffering look and the smile on his face immediately vanishes. "I'm just trying to stay positive."

"Ta, really, but you're not the one with a broken nose at Glasto."

"They said it wasn't broken," Harry mutters and Nick waves him off.

"Whatever, still fucking hurts."

Nick watches as Harry crosses the floor inside the cramped space of Liam's camper van and he finds that he can't stop his mind from wondering just how he managed to find himself in this particular position. This was definitely not how he pictured his first night at Glastonbury going. He thought for sure he'd be in the middle of a crowd by now enjoying one of the bands he'd paid a pretty penny to come see, and maybe if he was lucky he'd have found a fit boy to make out with by now. Nick is always up for a good snog in the middle of a concert.

But instead he's inside Liam fucking Payne's camper van with a not-broken-but-still-very-painful nose with Harry and they're apparently waiting for Liam to come back with Louis. Nick is one thousand percent certain that out of all the people he wants to see at this very moment, Louis Tomlinson is _not_ one of them.

"Well," he says with a sigh, "since it's stopped bleeding, and who knows where Liam went, I say we should just go."

Harry's got a frown when he turns around and Nick has a bad feeling that he's already lost this battle.

"We can't just leave! That'd be rude."

"Harry," Nick scoffs a little, "you do know there's these things called phones, yeah? Tiny things, make it really easy to get in touch with people? I'm willing to bet you could get a hold of Liam that way and tell him we've buggered off."

"He said he'd be back, though." Harry's still frowning. It's looking more and more like a pout with every passing second and Nick is absolutely losing this battle. "It'd be impolite to just leave."

"God, what are you, the politeness police?" Nick mutters under his breath. " _Fine_ ," he says, loud enough for Harry to hear. "We'll stay."

"Good." Harry beams. "I'm sure he'll be back any minute now."

"With Tomlinson in tow, I'm sure." Nick fakes a smile. "Great. I'd just love to get punched again."

"He won't," Harry says, though his tone doesn't necessarily sound as though he's convinced of that fact. "Not with Liam around, anyway. I'm sure of it."

"That's comforting, I think." Nick shakes his head as he stands up, careful not to hit the top of his head on the ceiling of the camper van. "Where's the loo?"

"In the back," Harry replies. "Remember, no--"

"I remember the rule," Nick interrupts before Harry can finish. "I just want to survey the damage, that's all."

"It's not that bad."

"That's definitely not comforting," Nick replies with a laugh. He slips into the tiny loo compartment without waiting around to hear Harry's reply and curses when he nearly knocks his head into the overhead light. Clearly, this compartment was not meant for people of freakishly tall proportions.

Nick manages to stop his mind from going off on a tangent of how well Louis probably fits in here because _that_ is certainly not what he wants to think about right now.

Luckily - or perhaps not so - all other thoughts are erased from Nick's mind the moment he looks at himself in the mirror. His nose is remarkably swollen and looks to be a brilliant shade of purple, there are still a few streaks of blood under his nose from what he hadn't managed to get with the tissues, and to top it all off he's got bruises under both of his eyes that make him look like he belongs in Trainspotting or something.

"Not that bad," he mutters to himself. "Christ, Harry, I look bloody awful!"

He cleans himself up best he can before resigning himself to the fact that he'll have to spend the rest of the weekend at Glastonbury looking a bit like an addict.

As if to add further insult to injury, Harry's not the only one in the camper van by the time Nick comes back out of the loo. He has no idea how he didn't hear the door open but suddenly he's faced with not only Liam and Niall, but Louis as well.

"You're looking well, Grim," Louis says, not even trying to keep the smirk off his face. He only looks the tiniest bit remorseful when Liam elbows him and mutters something too low for Nick to hear.

"Ta," Nick replies, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "so thoughtful of you."

"Well," Niall says rather loudly from his spot next to the door. Nick looks at him, realizing that he's not even fully inside the camper van, the bastard. "I said I'd meet Brez for Bastille so I'll be off now." He grins widely as he darts his eyes back and forth between Louis and Nick quickly before he adds, "play nice, now!"

He pulls the door shut behind him and Nick stares at it for a moment before he blinks and lets out a surprised laugh.

"Niall is very strange," he says as he half-turns towards Harry.

"What's wrong with that?" Louis says, back on the defensive already. Nick sighs heavily; he doesn't want to get into an argument with Louis right now but who knows if there's any way around it.

"Nothing," Liam cuts in. He gives Louis a pointed look and for a few seconds they appear to have a conversation entirely in eyebrow raises. Nick looks at Harry who looks back at him with a similar confused expression, although his is far more fond.

"Liam--"

"Louis."

" _Liam_."

" _Louis_." Liam frowns. "You promised."

Louis scowls and crosses his arms, apparently having been put in his place. Nick's impressed, like absurdly impressed. He's in the middle of making a mental note to ask Liam just how to do that when Liam speaks up again as he crosses the floor towards Harry.

"Let's give these two some time alone," he says as he reaches out and touches Harry's hip. "D'you fancy going to see Bastille as well?"

Harry looks delighted for about a second before his expression turns worried and he glances at Louis and Nick. "D'you think that's a good idea?"

"Louis promised he wouldn't start anything. Right, Louis?" Liam turns his head and stares at Louis over his shoulder. Louis grumbles something, too low to hear exactly what he's saying but loud enough that they can all tell he's not impressed with how things are panning out.

"If you're sure," Harry says, still giving Louis a wary look.

"Louis?" Liam prompts.

"I won't start anything," Louis parrots in a monotone drawl.

Nick isn't exactly comfortable with the idea of being left alone with Louis but he can't bring himself to object to it, not when Harry looks so excited about the prospect of spending time with Liam. So when Harry turns to look at him, instead of begging him to stay or asking to tag along, Nick simply smiles.

"Go on," he says. "Have fun."

The atmosphere in the camper van decidedly changes as soon as the door shuts behind Harry and Liam. Louis refuses to even look at Nick and if he's being honest, Nick doesn't really want to look at him either. The throbbing in his nose has finally been dulled enough by the painkillers he took hours ago that Nick can finally concentrate on other things, but that still doesn't mean he wants to actually sit down and talk to Louis.

Louis actually flinches when Nick makes a sudden movement to cross the floor and take a seat on the tiny couch behind where Louis is standing. Nick lets out a long breath and they make eye contact for the first time since Nick came out of the loo.

"Might as well sit, yeah?" he says.

Louis doesn't say anything in response as he looks away. He waits another few seconds before he sits down next to Nick, careful to leave as much space between them as humanly possible on such a small couch. As Louis stares forward, avoiding looking at Nick at all costs, Nick finds himself staring at Louis' profile. This is probably the closest to each other that they've ever been without one of them picking a fight (usually Louis), and Nick surprisingly lets himself take advantage of it by admiring the view.

"Stop staring at me," Louis snaps a few minutes later. Nick quickly looks away and clears his throat, as though that will fool Louis into thinking he wasn't actually staring.

"The red looks good," Nick mumbles. He jumps a little when Louis suddenly whips his head around and stares at him, his eyes flicking up to Nick's hair before they drop back down to his face.

"Can't say the same about you," he snaps before he turns his head away.

Nick laughs under his breath and rolls his eyes; he doesn't know what else he should've expected.

"Sorry," Louis mutters, almost too low for Nick to hear. "It doesn't-- I just--" He sighs heavily. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" Nick repeats. He's half-convinced he's just hallucinated the last ten seconds. Louis Tomlinson doesn't _apologize_.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Louis huffs. "Sorry for punching you, and all that. I was mad, alright?"

"What did I do?" Nick asks, entirely bewildered by this information.

"You didn't--" Louis groans as he turns back towards Nick. "You were just _there_ , alright. You were there with your stupid red hair and Liam lied to me and _there you were_." He doesn't mention that it's payback for the laughter. Nick probably doesn't even remember that night but Louis will never forget it.

"So you punched me."

"Said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

"For you not to punch me for no reason?" Nick scoffs. "Pretty fucking stupid thing to do."

"I said I'm sorry!" Louis shouts.

"So you're sorry!" Nick shouts back. "That still doesn't explain why you fucking punched me in the first place!"

Louis groans, loud and angry as he stands up and rounds on Nick.

"I just fucking said why! I was mad, you were there, I punched you. Get it?!"

"No!" Nick stands up, towering over Louis as they continue to argue. "I don't even know why you started hating me in the first place. Nothing you do makes any fucking sense!"

"I don't have to explain myself to you!"

"You fucking do when it comes to me! What did I ever do to you, Louis?"

"You're just always there!" Louis shouts. "All I wanted to do was avoid you but you're always around, and when you're not there you're in my head and I just want it to fucking stop!"

Nick's stunned, to say the least. "Wh-What?"

"Nothing," Louis says, his voice suddenly quiet. His chest heaves as he tries to catch his breath after getting so worked up, and he won't look Nick in the eye. "Nothing, just… just go."

"Louis--"

"Go away, Nick."

"Louis," Nick says again as he reaches out and takes a hold of Louis' wrists.

"Don't," Louis snaps as he tries to pull away, "don't touch me, Nick, don't--"

Nick takes the risk before he even fully processes it in his own mind. One minute he's yelling at Louis and the next he's taking Louis' face in his hand and leaning down to kiss him.

Nick would be one hundred percent lying if he didn't admit to himself that he fully expected Louis to punch him again. Instead, he's surprised when Louis groans helplessly against his mouth and goes lax against him as he kisses back.

With all the possible endings to his day given how it started, Nick definitely hadn't seen this one coming.

*

Kissing Nick is just as good as Louis remembers it being and for a split second he lets himself enjoy it. He thinks maybe this will get Nick out of his system and he can finally move on with his life and _forget_ Nick. But then there's an echo of laughter in his head and Louis realizes he can't do this. He can't go through this again.

"No," he mumbles against Nick's mouth as he tries to pull away, "Nick, stop."

"What? Why?" Nick asks, breathless. He stops kissing Louis but he doesn't let go of his face and Louis is determined to keep his eyes closed so he doesn't have to see whatever's in Nick's eyes at the moment, because there's a good chance he won't be able to handle it.

"I don't want this," he answers shakily. He'd hoped that his voice would sound stronger, that the lie he's telling would sound true rather than fall flat as soon as it left his mouth.

"You…" Nick drops his hands from Louis' face. "You kissed me back."

"I--"

"You kissed me back," he repeats, far more accusing than before.

"So what if I did?" Louis shouts, his anger returning. Why can't Nick just let it go? He didn't try and stop Louis from running away the first time, why is this time any different?

"So…" Nick huffs out a hollow laugh. "You're unbelievable, d'you know that?"

"What, just because I don't want to kiss you, I'm unbelievable?" Louis scoffs.

"Yeah, d'you know what I think? I think you're full of shit." Nick shakes his head and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "I think you're doing what you always do, and--"

"Oh, what do I always do?" Louis interrupts. "You don't know me, Grimshaw, don't act like--"

"I know enough!" Nick shouts. "I know people don't kiss other people the way you just kissed me if they don't want to!"

"Shut up," Louis says, his voice suddenly soft.

"No," Nick goes on, "no, not until you tell me what the fuck is going on here."

"Shut up, just… shut up," Louis says weakly. Nick moves back into his space, so close that Louis swears Nick could hear his heartbeat if he tried.

"Louis," Nick says softly. He tucks his hand under Louis' chin and turns his face up. "Look at me."

"No," Louis rasps.

"Look at me and tell me you don't want me to kiss you," Nick says gently. "If you can do that, I'll leave."

Louis chokes back a whimper and tries to gather every bit of strength inside himself before he looks Nick in the eyes. He opens his mouth, thinking surely it can't be too hard to just say the words, but absolutely nothing comes out.

"You can't, can you?" Nick asks.

"Shut up," Louis gasps, his voice catching on sob. "Nick--"

Nick kisses him again and try as he might, Louis can't stop himself from kissing back. He's absolutely done for when Nick pulls him in by the waist, one hand keeping a firm grip there while his other slides down further to grab Louis' arse.

"I knew it," Nick whispers as he breaks away from Louis' mouth and starts kissing his neck.

It's all so familiar that it makes Louis dizzy. He's struck with the need to have Nick touching him again, he remembers how good it was and he's desperate to have it again. But there's still that voice in the back of his head that won't let him forget the laughter.

He tries to pull away from Nick, but his grip is too tight.

"What is it, Louis?" Nick murmurs. He's kissing Louis' neck again, working his way up until his mouth is right next to Louis' ear. "Just let go."

"No," Louis chokes out. He knows where this is going, he can't let it happen again.

"C'mon, let me help," Nick says as he quickly slips his hand between them. He's too fast for Louis to stop him, Louis realizes a second too late what Nick's going for and he can't say no quick enough to keep Nick from pressing his hand against Louis' small dick.

"No!" he tries, but it's lost in a moan the moment Nick touches him. Louis shudders and grabs onto Nick to hold himself up as he comes in his pants.

Blood is pounding in Louis' ears but time feels frozen in place. Nick's hand is still pressed against him and any second now Louis is positive the laughter is going to start. His cheeks burn with embarrassment, _god_ , why didn't Nick just leave him alone?

"Louis…" Nick whispers softly. "Did you…"

"Don't," Louis snaps. His voice is nowhere near as fierce as he means it to be; god, he feels like he's seconds away from crying. "Just don't--"

"It's alright," Nick says. "Louis, it's--"

"Don't," Louis begs. He squeezes his eyes shut to keep back the tears. He can't break down in front of Nick like this, he's already so embarrassed and the last thing he wants is for Nick to have something else to hold over his head.

"God knows it's happened to everyone at some point, you don't have to--"

"God, Nick, just shut _up_!" Louis shoves him back and sways a little on his own two feet. Nick stumbles back, catching himself before he ends up on the floor. "You don't know everything, okay? Don't you ever just shut up?!"

Nick sinks down onto the couch and puts his head in his hands. He winces, sucking in a sharp breath when he accidentally puts pressure on his nose as he rubs at his eyes. Louis presses his hand to the wall and tries to catch his breath as he turns away from Nick. He's one step away from bolting out the door when Nick speaks up and he tenses, preparing himself to counter whatever Nick is about to say.

"You're right," Nick says with a deep sigh. "I don't know everything. I don't know _anything_ that's going on inside your head because as far as I can tell, neither do you."

Louis scowls but he doesn't argue. He hates that Nick's managed to say the one thing that he has no answer to, no quippy comeback to push him off of his high horse.

"You say you don't want to kiss me, but then you do and when I touch you, you--"

"Don't say it," Louis warns.

"What? You came in your pants, Lou, it's not that big of a--"

"Don't call me that!" Louis shouts. "Only my friends call me Lou and you are _not_ my friend!"

"Then what am I, hmm? What am I to you because up until tonight I thought you fucking hated me and now I don't know what the fuck to think!"

"I don't know!" Louis cries out. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!"

"That's not good enough! Either you hate me or you don't, it's that fucking simple!"

"I don't know!"

Nick deflates. "Do… do you really not know?" Louis stays silent and Nick swallows harshly. "I thought maybe you were just, like, being difficult but… fuck, Louis, do you not _know_?"

"Know what?" Louis asks. He doesn't know what Nick's getting at or why his voice has become so careful and almost downright tender. It's making Louis uncomfortable, to be honest.

"Do you like… boys?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Louis groans loudly. "I'm not having a bloody gay crisis! I've known what I am for some time now, kissing you didn't suddenly turn me gay, you enormous twat!"

"I didn't--"

"Just fucking go, alright? Go on and have a good laugh and leave me the fuck alone!"

"Why… Why would I laugh?"

"Don't act like you don't know," Louis mutters darkly.

"Louis, I literally have no idea what you're talking about."

"You laughed at me!" Louis shouts. "The first night we met you had your hand on my… and you laughed!"

"I… What?" Nick rubs his face again, cursing under his breath when he brushes his hand against his nose. "I don't know what you're talking about, Louis, honestly."

"You mean, you don't remember?" Louis' voice goes quiet. "You don't remember kissing me?"

"We've literally never even _talked_ before tonight, Louis, what the hell are you on about?"

"Last year! Last year you and I met for the first time at a gig and we were snogging and…" Louis deflates. "Fuck, you really don't remember, do you?"

"What fucking gig was it?"

"Editors. I spotted you halfway through the second opener and--"

"Oh Jesus Christ," Nick groans, interrupting Louis as he hides his face in his hands. "I don't even remember their fucking set, I was so pissed that night." He drops his hands and looks up at Louis with sad eyes. "Did we really meet that night?"

"Yeah," Louis answers softly.

"Fuck, I'm sorry. I laugh at literally anything when I'm off my arse. I don't know what I was laughing at but I highly doubt it was anything to do with you."

"You don't know that," Louis says as he turns away and crosses his arms. "You probably were laughing at me, you just don't remember."

Louis hears Nick get up from the couch and the next thing he feels is Nick pressed against his back as he loops his arms around Louis.

"I wouldn't laugh at you." Louis tries to pull away from Nick's arms but he holds him tightly.

"You don't know--"

"I _do_ know that," Nick interrupts as he rests his chin on Louis' shoulder. "I'm not a complete arsehole, Louis. I wouldn't laugh at you."

Louis stays quiet and tilts his head away from Nick's.

"I liked kissing you," Nick whispers. "I liked touching you, too. I'd like to do it again, if you'll let me."

Louis' mouth is suddenly dry. He tries to swallow but it doesn't help. "No," he answers in a shaky voice.

"Why not?" Nick's hands drop from his waist and Louis takes a deep breath.

"Because you won't want me after."

"Says who?"

"Says everyone," Louis replies. "Everyone who's ever… touched me."

"Fuck," Nick says softly. "Why?"

"Nick," Louis whimpers, "don't make me say it."

"Then let me touch you," Nick says as he presses a light kiss to Louis' cheek. "Please?"

"But…" Louis trembles as he takes a deep breath. He waits another few seconds before he lets it out and nods. Nick all but drapes himself over Louis' back as he holds him, tight but gentle, before he loosens his arms from around Louis and puts his hands on his waist.

He slowly slides his hands around Louis' hips, following the edge of his jeans until his fingers find the button and pull it open. Louis holds his breath as Nick drags the zipper down and tugs on his jeans, letting them rest mid-thigh before his hands go back to Louis' hips.

"Good so far?" he whispers in Louis' ear. Louis shakes but nods again.

Nick presses one hand between Louis' legs and Louis immediately jerks in his arms. He didn't think it was possible, but Louis feels even smaller under Nick's hands and _god_ this is embarrassing.

"Bit messy," Nick murmurs with an amused chuckle.

"Nick--"

"Not laughing at you," Nick assures him. "I like that you were desperate, that you couldn't hold back."

Louis shivers; he's hard under Nick's hand. He wonders if Nick can even feel it. Nick runs his finger along the short length of his dick and Louis finally drops his arms from where they've been crossed over his chest and he grabs at Nick's hands.

"Nick," he gasps.

"Is this what you didn't want me to find out?" Nick presses his hips against Louis' bum and Louis groans when he feels that Nick's hard too. "That you're a bit small?"

"Yes," Louis says as he grips Nick's wrists so hard it must hurt.

Nick doesn't say anything. His finger is still touching Louis' cock, but he doesn't try to pull his wrist out of Louis' grip. He keeps teasing his finger up and down, making Louis impossibly harder. He's full on shaking against Nick and can't seem to stop. Nick presses his mouth against Louis' neck, his tongue and teeth teasing the skin there and making Louis' heart beat even faster inside his chest.

"Does that feel good?" Nick asks, his breath warm on Louis' neck.

"Yes," Louis says with a whimper. "Nick, please."

"Can you come like this? Just from one finger?"

Louis whimpers and tries to hide from Nick's gaze.

"Do you need more, Lou?" Nick kisses Louis' shoulder. "Tell me."

"I don't-- I don't know." Louis breathes out harshly. "Just… don't stop. Please."

"I won't stop, don't worry." Nick smiles against his skin.

Nick tugs his wrist out of Louis' grip without much trouble and presses two fingers against Louis' cock. Louis stifles a whine when Nick hooks his thumb around and holds his cock between it and two fingers, still covered by his pants.

It doesn't take more than a few tiny strokes to have Louis's hips jerking as he comes in his pants for a second time with Nick's hand on his cock. He sags back against Nick, lolling his head back on Nick's shoulder as he fights to catch his breath.

"Even messier now, aren't you?" Nick says, his voice light and teasing. Louis hides his face against Nick's neck.

"Shut up," he mumbles. It's the fondest he's sounded all night.

"Guess what," Nick says as he cups Louis' jaw and coaxes him into making eye contact. "I still want you."

"Yeah?" Louis breathes out as a hesitant smile spreads across his face. Nick smiles in return and gives him a gentle kiss.

"Yeah. Now do us a favor and go wash up, yeah? Not done with you yet."

Louis lets out a long breath before he turns around in Nick's arms, wrapping his arms around Nick's neck and hugging him tightly. Nick hugs him back as Louis buries his head against Nick's neck, murmuring _thank you_ over and over again.

When Louis pulls away he grabs Nick's face and kisses him, but he's a little too rough and Nick ends up wincing when his nose is jostled.

"Sorry," Louis says as he presses the gentlest of kisses against Nick's nose.

"Better now, innit?" Nick smiles. He loosens his arms around Louis and taps his hip lightly as he says, "go on, now."

"Alright, alright," Louis mumbles as he turns around and heads for the loo, not even bothering to pull up his jeans. He glances over his shoulder at Nick and laughs softly before he slips inside, closing the door behind him.

Once he's alone, Louis lets out a deep breath and closes his eyes as he leans his head back against the door. He can't quite get a handle on all that's transpired in the last hour or so, but what's most important is the fact that he's feeling better than he has in a long time.

Louis grimaces a little when he looks down and sees the sight of his pants.

 _Well, mostly better_ , he admits to himself.

*

As soon as Louis closes the door behind him Nick sits down on the couch and lets out a slightly hysterical laugh. He can't make sense of anything in his head just yet, all he knows is that he fancies Louis something awful whereas a few hours ago he wanted nothing to do with him. It's all been a bit of a whirlwind and Nick is grateful for the few minutes to himself so he can try and get a handle on things.

He takes his phone out of his pocket and sees there's a text from Harry from about half an hour ago and for a moment he marvels at the fact that he didn't even hear his phone go off.

**_how's it going??? :)_ **

Nick laughs again and runs a hand through his hair as he tries to figure out a way to answer Harry's text without going into too much detail.

**_definitely better than expected. you probably wouldn't believe me if i told you._ **

Nick lets out a breath as he puts his phone on silent and sets it aside. He taps his fingers against his knees a few times as he looks towards the door to the loo, wondering how long Louis will be in there.

It's the waiting that leads him to taking off his clothes, as ridiculous as that sounds. Nick can't help but get impatient after only a few minutes and getting mostly naked seems to be a logical step to take. It's only after Louis comes out of the loo and sees Nick sitting on the couch in just his pants that Nick thinks maybe this wasn't the best idea.

His nerves are soothed a little by the wry smile that appears on Louis' face when he stops just in front of Nick.

"Feeling a bit overdressed now," Louis jokes as he slips his shirt over his head and drops it on the floor before he shucks his jeans off all the way.

"That's better," Nick replies as he reaches out for Louis' hands and pulls him onto his lap.

"Liam would murder me if he knew I was naked on his couch," Louis says with a laugh. Nick raises his eyebrows and openly ogles Louis' body.

"Not completely naked, are you?" He grins. "And I won't tell if you don't."

"Just don't get any come on the couch, yeah?"

"You're one to talk, messy." A gorgeous flush spreads across Louis' cheeks and Nick runs his hands down Louis' chest, appreciating every line and curve.

"Nick," Louis whispers when Nick's hands reach the elastic of his pants. Nick darts his eyes up to Louis' face to watch his expression as he slowly tugs his pants down. Louis' eyes fall closed and he bites his lip as Nick exposes his dick, bare and soft and unmistakably small.

Nick leans forward and touches his lips to it, gripping Louis' hips as he kisses the soft skin. Louis gasps and digs his fingers into Nick's shoulders for support, letting out a whimper when Nick licks up the small length of it.

"Nick," Louis repeats, his tone switched from nervous to begging. Nick slides his hands back around to Louis' arse and squeezes as he sucks Louis' tiny cock into his mouth, sucking harder when Louis cries out above him.

Nick doesn't let up, he keeps sucking as Louis falls apart in his hands. He can't keep his mouth shut, a litany of curse words and praise falling from his mouth with every second that goes by.

"Shit, Nick, _shit_ ," Louis says as he trembles as he fights the urge to come a third time. Nick digs his fingers into the flesh of Louis' arse, pulling him closer in the hopes that he gets the hint. If it didn't mean he'd have to take his mouth off of Louis' dick he'd say what's running through his head on constant repeat: _I want you to come_.

It doesn't take more than a few seconds before Louis is coming, and as soon as he's finished Nick pulls off and swallows before he starts kissing his way up Louis' torso. Louis collapses into Nick's lap and lets himself be pulled in for a kiss, hissing when he's pulled on top of Nick's neglected and extremely hard cock.

"I like the way you fall apart for me," Nick whispers as he runs his hand through Louis' hair. "Bit addicting, really."

"Hadn't noticed," Louis says, taking a second to swallow deeply before he pushes his hips down against Nick's cock. "Think it's your turn now, though."

"So kind of you," Nick teases, hissing when Louis rubs against him again. "Fuck, Lou."

"What do you want?" Louis asks breathlessly.

"God, I…" Nick laughs and presses his face against Louis' chest, "I don't even know, I feel like I can't think straight."

"I could suck you," Louis offers. "Y'know, return the favor. Or, um, you could…" Louis trails off and he darts his eyes away from Nick's.

"I could what?" Nick slips his hand under Louis' chin and tilts his head back towards him and Louis whines softly.

"You could… y'know. Fuck me." Louis clears his throat. "If you wanted."

"Do you want me to?" Nick says, trying to keep his voice level even though his hand on Louis' hip obviously tightened when Louis suggested it.

"I-I don't…" Louis stammers, getting all flustered. "I've never like… actually… but, y'know, if you wanted…"

Nick takes in a deep breath and lets it out very slowly as he tries to wrap his head around what Louis has just told him. He's more or less certain he knows what Louis was trying to say but he has to know for sure.

"You've never…?" he starts to ask, trailing off when Louis goes a bit stiff under his hands.

"Never got that far," Louis mumbles. He laughs a little, nervous and slightly uncomfortable. "Never let anyone see me before. Sort of hard to, y'know, _do it_ if I won't take my jeans off."

Nick's eyes drop to Louis' dick, small and perfect nestled between his thighs. He looks back up at Louis' eyes and Louis visibly relaxes just by Nick looking at him. Nick leans forward and kisses him, softly at first but when Louis kisses him back it turns a bit dirty rather fast.

"Louis," Nick says with a breathless laugh as he pulls away. Louis' eyes are wild and bright but Nick can still see the hint of nervousness buried underneath which helps him make up his mind in an instant.

"Nick?" Louis asks quietly when he's stayed silent for a beat too long.

"How about we save that for when we go back to London?" he offers. He leans forward to put his lips to Louis' ear before he adds, "then I can get you all spread out on my bed and proper begging for it. Get you as messy as I like, yeah?"

"Fuck," Louis says with a shudder as he grins at Nick. "We should've done this ages ago," he murmurs as he presses himself against Nick, grinding their hips together as he puts his mouth to Nick's neck.

"Don't start," Nick says with a hiss as Louis slides his hand between them and grips Nick's cock. "Fuck, don't _stop_."

"Tell me what you're going to do," Louis says as he starts working his hand up and down Nick's cock. "Please."

"When we're back in London?" Nick asks, watching Louis' hand move for a few seconds before he has to look away for fear he'll come too soon. "Gonna slick you up good and proper, won't I? Use my fingers on you til you're desperate."

"Yeah," Louis says, "go on. Tell me."

"Maybe I'll suck you while I've got my fingers in you," Nick says as he cups one hand around the back of Louis' neck while the other closes around the thickness of Louis' thigh. "Make you come at least once, maybe twice, get you all warmed up for me."

"Fuck," Louis groans.

"Yeah, love the way you come for me." Nick closes his eyes and moans when Louis rubs his thumb over the head of his cock, spreading the precome before he goes back to stroking him. "Love that you come over and over, like it's nothing. You look so good when you come, Louis, so fucking good."

"Feels so good. Don't wanna stop coming."

"I know, love. Bet I could make you come now, yeah? Even though you've come three times already?" Nick opens his eyes and looks down at Louis' dick. It looks a bit bigger than it did a few minutes ago, but it's still so small. "Could touch you right now and you'd come all over me, wouldn't you?"

"Dunno," Louis gasps. He tries to jerk Nick off faster but his motions are getting sloppy the more turned on he gets. Nick doesn't even care. "Maybe."

"Bet you would." Nick groans. "Bet you'd come just from touching your dick against mine. Do it, Lou. Wanna see it."

Louis whimpers as he tries to move his hips closer to Nick's and he pants when his tiny dick brushes against the hot skin of Nick's. Nick curses, his dick feels like it's on fire with how hard he's been for so long but he can wait, he knows he can. He wants to make Louis fall apart again.

"That's it," Nick whispers as Louis takes his own dick in his hand and presses it up against Nick's, making it look even smaller than before.

"Fuck," Louis whines. "Nick--"

"Look at you," he says reverently. His hand tightens on the back of Louis' neck and he presses their foreheads together. "God, just look. Bet you wanna come so much, don't you?"

"Nick," Louis sobs.

"Can you hold on, Lou?" Nick asks, suddenly struck with an idea. He desperately wants Louis underneath him, hard and desperate. "Lie down for me, yeah?"

"I…" Louis groans helplessly but he nods quickly. Nick helps him lie down on his back, the two of them just barely fitting on the couch. Nick hovers over him, taking his own dick in his hands and jerking himself off as he leans down to kiss Louis.

"Gonna come on you, Lou. D'you want that?"

"Fuck, Nick. Yeah, do it." Louis squeezes his eyes shut and clings to Nick's shoulders, trying to pull him closer.

"I'm gonna," Nick grunts as he presses the head of his cock against Louis', stroking himself faster and faster until his orgasm hits and he spills all over Louis' cock and hips.

Louis moans, the friction from Nick's cock doing just enough to make him come all over himself for the fourth time that night.

"Shit," Nick breathes out harshly, trying his best not to collapse on top of Louis as his orgasm subsides. He feels completely and utterly spent; he can't even imagine how Louis is still coherent at this point.

"Agreed," Louis murmurs as he noses at Nick's cheek, smiling against his mouth when Nick turns his head so they can kiss. "Made a right mess of me this time, didn't you?"

"Sorry about that," Nick replies with a laugh.

"Don't be, I liked it." Louis rolls his eyes. "Obviously."

"Just as long as we didn't get any on the couch, yeah?"

Louis' eyes sparkle when he smiles. Nick's never noticed it before. It's utterly beautiful, just like the rest of him.

**Author's Note:**

> [come say hi on tumblr!](http://imlouisaf.tumblr.com)


End file.
